Rautaki Reo

Our comprehensive Rautaki Reo strategy encompasses various programs, including Pae Kōrero, He Kura te Kaumātua, our online te reo programme, Kai Kōrero, and Kumete Kōrero, each designed to support and promote the use of te reo Māori.

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The celestial and terrestrial languages that make up the language of the Te Whakatōhea tribe and its peoples are formal, spiritual, and informal forms of the Māori language. We welcome the Reo Strategy of Te Whakatōhea, this important piece of work, the beacon that will guide the tribe, the essence required to motivate its people, to promote the learning of the language, and the impetus needed to assist the tribe in achieving its dream to be fluent in conversational te reo Māori.

 

Although the dream to create a Te Reo Strategy has been a long-anticipated one. There have been many people, conversations, hui, debates, considerations, deliberations, consultations, and contributions made to the creation of our plan that incorporates every aspect, every context, and everyone from the new-born child to our esteemed elders, our marae, our hapū, our environment, and our religious beliefs, this reo strategy is an all-encompassing one that will serve, guide, and assist Te Whakatōhea to achieve its goal of being an iwi 100% proficient in conversing in te reo o Te Whakatōhea. This plan is the enabler to achieve this. Te Rautaki Reo o Te Whakatōhea will ensure the protection and retention of the Whakatōhea dialect. It is envisaged that this reo plan will assist in the revival of vocabulary, sentence structures, proverbs, and colloquialisms unique to Te Whakatōhea that can be found in the mōteatea, haka, and waiata that belong to the iwi. This strategy will assist in keeping the language relevant and consistent with the ever-changing world that our mokopuna will inhabit and the new peoples they will encounter, the new lifestyles they will have to adapt to, and the technologies they will need to engage with, one hundred generations from now.

 

Acknowledgments must be paid to the Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board for the support given to this project and for enduring through to its completion. Thanks to the Whakatōhea iwi, the hapū, and the Ōpōtiki community for their contributions to this plan and for sharing in a vision. Special mention must be made to the people who spent years devoting their time to this kaupapa, working tirelessly, hosting hui, interviewing stakeholders, collecting information, and collating data to create Te Rautaki Reo o Te Whakatōhea: the architects, our iwi members, those that have passed during this process, and the Project Managers: Thomas Tawhiri (past), Anita Paruru-Kurei (past), Tracy Gilmer (present), Danny Paruru Iwi Development Projects Manager, Dickie Farrar CEO, Robert Edwards Chair, and his Board.

 

“The Māori language is the ethos of the Māori identity.” This Reo Strategy will ensure this is maintained; “The future identity of Te Whakatōhea as a people is founded on the legacy of Te Whakatōhea leaders and visionaries both past and present,” a legacy that will compel the iwi to be proud members of society through knowing their identity and speakers of te reo that will contribute positively to a future inconceivable to the imagination.